Lay Me Down to Sleep

Don't be fooled by the title of Robert "Storie" Parris' Lay Me Down to Sleep. This collection is a wake-up call: first for the poet himself, and next for all who dare crack this book open. Inside, you'll find fire hydrants bleeding onto Bronx blocks, odes to a Harlem mortician and to starry-eyed mothers, the sticky fumblings and triumphs of romance, and the trials inherent to modern manhood. Scattered throughout the lively, technicolor landscape of Lay Me Down to Sleep is an inescapable hope-communicated in hip-hop-style free verse, religious allusion, and Parris' unmistakably spirited voice. Allow the poet to prove to you that, in the battle for selfhood, you can become exquisite. Each one of us [is] uprooted then repotted / to grow even bigger.